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$41M justice center gains traction

Corrections

Both this story and its headline contain incorrect information regarding a $41 million proposal to construct a new criminal justice center being considered by the Maury County building committee. A 4-3 vote taken by the 10-member committee at Wednesday’s meeting was not enough to propel the proposal on to the county budget committee or the full commission; six affirmative votes would have been required.

Two hours in to the Maury County building committee’s meeting, it was clear things weren’t going as the members had hoped.

Right off the bat, the committee was missing two members — Commissioners Kim Willis and Lucy Ledbetter — and about an hour in to the discussion, Commissioner Talvin Barner did not return from one of the group’s several five-minute breaks.

Another hour into the Wednesday meeting, as proposals for the county’s capital priorities began to take shape, the committee’s seven present members started to balk.

At the end of the night, Chairman Andy Jackson, who just last week had expressed hopes that the committee would emerge from its meeting Wednesday with its priorities for the future in place, was hunched over, his head in his hands.

The only thing the committee could gather enough votes to send onward for consideration from the county budget committee — and perhaps later, the full commission — was a $41 million proposal to construct a new criminal justice center in Maury County.

Three hours after the meeting started, it adjourned with the committee in deadlock.

Other proposed projects — a $16 million industrial park near Interstate 65, a $45 million renovation project at Columbia Central High School and a $1.5 million speculative building at the Cherry Glen Industrial Park in Mt. Pleasant — did not receive enough support from members to move forward.

Jackson said these projects have been delayed for a number of years as the county has waited for the funds to come available. In November, the chairman told the committee to be prepared to make a difficult decision about which projects to fund.

The decision facing the committee was monumental — not one to be taken lightly, Cepicky said, and he requested a deferral on consideration of most of the projects to allow for presenters to return with more details.

“We have seven members here on this commission making a monumental decision,” Cepicky said. “I think we all have an idea where we’re headed. And I know everybody wants to move this forward, but I’m going to make a motion that we defer this until next month to give the people the opportunity to come back and talk with us.”

His motion failed.

The problem Cepicky alluded to was that for the I-65 industrial park and Central High renovation projects, something was missing. Either the numbers or confidence in the projects’ potential for success were just not there.

Bobby Harris, director of the Maury County Industrial Development Board, said that while his group was able to put a firm $16.3 million on the cost of the I-65 industrial park — complete with a 50,000-square-foot speculative building — he couldn’t fully advocate for the project’s feasibility.

“We want to confirm our thinking on the market feasibility. This looks beautiful, it’s a great-looking project, but we don’t have a commitment to a single building yet,” Harris told the committee. “It’s speculative. The real question, the more important question is, can we sell it? And that’s the answer that we’re reserving at this point.”

Based on the lack of information on the project’s feasibility, Commissioner Judy Vick proposed instead to allot $10 million to the purpose of economic development and job creation without a designated project. Her request failed 2-4-1 with Vick and Commissioner Mike Singleton in favor. Commissioner Turner abstained from voting.

Director of Maury County Public Schools Eddie Hickman’s proposal on the renovation of Central High School had just as many gaps. He said a combination of sickness and holidays prevented a great deal of work to scale down the renovation project from getting done.

Still, Hickman promised that the project would come in at the $45 million the committee had requested, and that was fully inclusive, “furniture and everything.” The director said it was his belief the project would improve academic achievement at CHS, that there is correlation between the building’s condition and the efforts of the students.

“I’m going to hopefully get this (project) accelerated. … I wish I had more answers,” Hickman told the committee. “It’s a slow process. I think the architect is listening and they’re listening very well. I told them this was our last chance to get this project off the ground.”

No motions or decisions on the school were made.

Derek Church, general manager of the Mt. Pleasant Power System, returned to the committee to again request support for the $1.5 million speculative building at Cherry Glen Industrial Park.

He said the building would be 50,000 square feet and would encompass a partnership between MPPS and the city of Mt. Pleasant, which would each contribute $150,000; the county, which would contribute $400,000; and the Tennessee Valley Authority and First Farmer’s and Merchants bank, which would provide the remainder through financing.

No decision was made on that project, either.

Commissioner John Goodloe reminded the committee that the full commission this month will be selecting different commissioners to populate the five committees. It was his hope, he said, that the committee would stay seated until a decision on these projects could be handed up to the budget committee.

“We need to do it all or none,” Commissioner June Beckum said. “And I’m going to say this, and the Daily Herald can write this however they choose to do it … I would like to see us not repeat the things that’s been presented to us many, many times. We are pretty attentive, and we can retain that information. We’re just repeating the same things over and over and it doesn’t change very much.”

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